<p>Copyright TM Forum 2006<br/></p><p><br/></p><p><b>Overview</b><br/></p><p>Customer Problem Resolution applications (trouble ticketing) handle the processes of dealing with customers affected by a service related or billing related problem. These functions are closely related to Service Problem Resolution, Customer Billing Management, and Resource Problem Resolution. These can be seen as a distributed set of related applications, ideally built around common data and functions. Each layer has a different perspective and takes a different view of the same data using the same information model (see TMF GB922 - the Shared Information and Data Model). Customer Problem Resolution applications are mainly concerned with how the problem would affect the operator's relationship with the customer with the goal of minimizing any adverse effect on this relationship.<br/></p><p><br/></p><p>The current trend is to integrate trouble ticketing with both service level and network level problem-reporting systems. Trouble ticketing applications would act as an initiation source for Service Problem Resolution applications or Resource Problem Resolution applications based on specific business rules.<br/></p><p><br/></p><p><b>Functionality</b><br/></p><p>Typical application functions supported are<br/></p><p><ul><li>Verify Customer Relationship - verify that the customer is who they claim they are and they own the products that they are reporting the problem with. </li><br/></p><p><li>Problem Reception - receive and acknowledge the problem report. Accurately timestamp the problem.  Raise appropriate Trouble Ticket and record problem symptoms.</li><br/></p><p><li>Specifically for billing problems (e.g., dispute of a charge on a bill), the application needs to also capture the details of the bill (e.g., bill id, charge code, amount in dispute, etc.). This "context" of the complaint will be "carried" with the trouble ticket through its resolution, thereby relieving the second tier support from looking up that information. Also, once the second tier support approves the dispute, the application should automate the billing notification.</li><br/></p><p><li>Verify the customer's SLA's for support (support hours, maintenance agreements, frequency, for example). Activate any incident related SLA's.</li><br/></p><p><li>Evaluate & Qualify Problem - determine the nature of a problem that has been reported by a customer and whether the customer is using the service properly. There will be testing to fit or translate customer information into service information for diagnosis. If there is a problem notification, a resource problem notification or a service-affecting event report (alarms, etc.) the Evaluate & Quality Problem functions may analyze this information and translate these problems into their impact on customers.  These processes will make the necessary reports to inform the Problem Handling processes about the estimated time to restore service. Also the Customer QoS/SLA Management applications will be informed about the problem's impact on the service performance.</li><br/></p><p><li>Plan & Assign Resolution - identify the necessary steps in order to activate the different units that will be involved to fix the problem.</li><br/></p><p><li>Track & Manage Resolution - ensure that the whole resolution is completed according to the established plan. Automated notifications and escalation procedures are established to effectively monitor any deviation to the resolution plan.</li><br/></p><p><li>Close & Report - certify the recovery of the normal service performance. These processes will perform the necessary testing to achieve this purpose and make the necessary reports about the problem that occurred, the root cause and the activities carried out for restoration. It also will issue the trouble clearance report to inform other CRM applications.</li><br/></p><p><li>Updating Billing systems if appropriate- reimburse the affected customer for the service problems they have endured.</li><br/></p><p><li>Advising other OSS systems if appropriate.</li><br/></p><p></ul><br/></p><p><b>Supported Contracts</b><br/></p><p><ul><li>Service Problem Resolution Applications</li><br/></p><p><li>Correlation & Root Cause Analysis</li><br/></p><p><li>Resource Problem Management</li><br/></p><p><li>Service Performance Management</li><br/></p><p><li>Service Quality monitoring</li><br/></p><p><li>Resource performance management</li><br/></p><p><li>Billing</li><br/></p><p></ul><br/></p>